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Comments
I've been thinking about why modstep presents an initial barrier to potential users. It shares this affront with some other apps also, and I think it's for the same reason.
As a graphic designer, I will posit the notion that icon and logo design is a careful art, and not as simple as it seems. Similarly with infographics (to the point that very few of them actually are). Icons, glyphs and representative graphics need a proper design process, and testing, the same as any other part of a program. Probably more, as this is the user surface, and it has to work fluidly. Visual Communication in Product Design is therefore far more important than any of the gubbins inside that somehow make a thing work.
I would suggest as an experiment, make a future version of modstep that has actual real, you know, words, everywhere. Not a hieroglyph in sight. No cryptic meaningless pictures. No attempts at conveying concepts through fancy but weak symbols. Just words.
In the settings, for those that then want to, you should be able to go back to the funny pictures, if you like. As I say, this is not exclusive flaw of ModStep, it is in evidence in plenty of places. It must stop.
@u0421793 I agree , but you're only half right & I have complained about this for years .
It's not just the unlabelled hieroglyphs , but the hidden gestures that the user is expected to learn & execute precisely .
as I said to the Loopy dev , who doesnt like " button soup" interfaces , I'd rather those than
" invisible noodle " gesturing . There is an advanced gestures section in Loopy , but ironically every new user must learn them , if for no other reason than to understand why wierd stuff is happening when s/he touches the screen & therefore to distinguish & avoid .
When does a tap become a hold , or a double tap , or a drag ? Or a drag a swipe ?
People compared Modstep to Cream as both were released together & seen to be complex , but as I pointed out ,they are complex for different reasons . Cream is ported from mouseclicking VST with labelled buttons & section titles everywhere .( I requested these could be changed in options for other info such as synth/preset names once new user has learnt interface .)
ModStep was designed as an IOS touch GUI ( TGUI ?) & learning gestures & the order of them is part of its operation . often on Mainpage it seems you select the item , then the edit button then the item again , but sometimes such as Clip speed it's Clipspeed before pattern . The menus particulary drive me crazy as scrolling becomes an unwanted drag .
The argument for these slick , clean interfaces is that they are "clutter free" , but I find it just re - places the clutter of menus & buttons into the users memory / mental processes during operation . Clean screen = muddled mind .
All research on "affordances" indicate that words are superior to abstract symbols.
That said, Modstep is deep and wide software (amazing, really!) that doesn't offer the user actionable options. It's a giant maze without a start here indicator.
I find Loopy to be quite the opposite. It is also deep software but it is very actionable to the user--from the initial walkthrough to the simple screen of circles. The depth and complexity reveals itself only when you go looking for it.
My two cents.
I have no problem with the iconography and love the clean simplicity of Modstep visually.
It is just entering and editing notes that frustrates me completely.
I would expect to be able to tap one button and now I am able to input notes, edit their length, change their vertical and horizontal position and delete notes. These are all actions one would want to be able to achieve under one type of action, activated by hitting one button once. But no, the workflow for this is frustratingly chopped up by having to toggle the paintbrush icon continuously and use the transpose feature. I know it can be asking a lot to just say 'make it like Gadget' but damn I wish they could just make this aspect like Gadget.
I would actually use it way way more if that were the case.
You can move multiple notes up and down using the pencil tool. Don't need to use transpose at all. Just multi select and move.
Pencil?
i see what you are saying, but that is still annoying
Using the pencil to delete notes you still have to toggle the feature off, just as clunky. have you used Gadget?
A lot of the time the pencil does not seem to register if i am changing note length or moving the note. Meh, so clunky.
And only being able to delete selection and not just tap the note to delete it even after tapping the trashcan?! YAargh! Oh shit, I should have breakfast, blood sugar crashing...
in the edit menu, I've always called it the pencil tool but maybe it's a stylus? oh, just seen that you've changed your post...
Yea, it definitely is a bit clunky compared to Gadget but i'm getting pretty comfortable with it now
My pet peeve with Modstep at the moment is the cpu usage bar. It seems like it's just a random bar, no units or a way to tell where it ends which means it's only slightly above meaningless to me
Am i missing something?
All in all though it's easily my favourite iOS sequencer and i've been through them all at this point
@Carnbot said:
Yah to me it is a stylus because you cant actually draw notes with it, only make selections.
all they need is select and pencil, like Gadget. dammit just copy Gadget... As unglamorous as it seems why reinvent the wheel into a rubix cube in a #%*ing blender? oh right breakfast time!
What does Modstep do better than Gadget, sequencer wise? Would there be any benefit to driving Gadget from Modstep, for example? I have Modstep but haven't had the impetus to get into it yet, lately I'm spending most of my time in Gadget (and sometimes Cubasis).
Conceptually, Modstep is the opposite of Gadget. Gadget is a closed, walled garden (not meant in a negative way, I love Gadget to bits). Modstep on the other hand plays nice with everything; especially if you want to integrate your iPad in a hardware setup with multiple MIDI boxes, throw in a bunch of Audio Units and drive some other MIDI apps.
Yah I have run the gamut of ios sequencers too. (If only gadget had midi out) I actually haven't pushed the CPU much in Modstep. I am really underutilizing it for the most part. I just use it to play simple loops of single apps that I record and edit in Blocs Wave via Link and AB. I absolutely love love love the modulation potential of Modstep but for actually trying to write a track, I just can't do their notation tap dancing and not completely lose my shit, as evident by my previous shameful ranting.
To @Wally's point I feel like modstep has more than it's fair share of hidden gestures. I love modstep but these thing steepen the learning curve
While I completely agree with the words vs icons points, I don't think this is why ModStep in particular has such a high initial barrier. I think it's because almost everything in it works significantly differently than other apps and operating system concepts. Don't get me wrong, it has a system and generally works very well when/if you adapt to it. It is as if the designers intentionally or unintentionally shut out almost every convention and just designed the interface as they would think logical if they had never used iOS before.
ModStep has become my go-to sequencer. I get more composing done in it than anything else. But even now, if I've been away from it for some time, I have to re-calibrate my brain to it. Once I'm back in the zone, though it's all good!
Unlike most people, it seems, this bothers me not one single bit. I am mystified why people expect things to all work similarly, be learnable in a few minutes, and not be difficult to use in various ways. What else in life is like that? When in all the history of man up until the last few years have musical instruments of all things been so? When have they not had atrociously difficult aspects about operating them? When have people been able to pick them up and shine with them without years of practice?
Music making will become quite boring if everything works like everything else and if it gets to be too easy. I must be really, really weird because I actually enjoy the challenges and appreciate the various characters of the wonderful variety of apps I have (even Su_V_x).
This rant is directed at no one. It's not even a rant. It's just the musing of a guy genuinely mystified over things others seem to feel so passionately about that I just can't relate to. I'm just out here on my own little planet diggin every last, amazing, time-sucking toy, and not worrying a bit what may or may not be in the next update coming down the pipe.
Peace!
Modstep is sweet. It would be much better without the brain re-calibrating. That's all.
Now that Modestep is super stable I feel like I can put away a bunch of MIDI sequencers like steppolyarp, thesys, etc. I can accomplish pretty much everything I want MIDI wise with Modstep and Fugue Machine. Being able to whittle the number of tools down to two frees up brain cells.
Dig in. It stopped me in the sequencer search.
Just get used to it.
I feel a little claustrophobic in gadget after starting up with modstep.
It is so more flexible. My next gadget project will most likely start with modstep
as the sequencer.
But use what you feel is right.
Yah i know how to use it and I rarely ever touch Gadget anymore. For ambitious sequencing I just use my laptop / pc daw. I am sure there will be an ios sequencer for me soon enough.
Right. I got it hooked up to the new virsyn and it just wont stop...
Do most of you guys import drum midi clips into Modstep or create your own?
I like to make my own. Usually with the step sequencer.
I think you make a valid point. It takes a long time to get comfortable and agile with a musical instrument. Not long ago, we had few conveniences when it came to even writing a score on paper. We used to just accept that and get to work. Today, though, most of us are trying to learn a bunch of computer instruments and input schemes. There’s a limit to how much time we want to invest in any one particular app. We want it to be designed for quick and easy accessibility, and for efficient workflow, to get out of our way. That’s really the big draw to computers. They’re supposed to make things quicker and more efficient so we can just concentrate on making music.
Now that ModStep has apparently been fixed, I’m going to make some time to learn it. I don’t mind a steeper learning curve if the app delivers once I learn it. I’m already a little wary from the descriptions here. Even pencil and paper has a certain efficiency to it, so I can get frustrated with interfaces that require a lot more movement than necessary.
Everybody wants to go to heaven, nobody wants to die.
This is yours ??
The issue with an app is that it competes for a share of attention with so many other apps, other things that aren't apps, and other things to be doing. If it is an infrequently used app because it can't be figured out plausibly enough in a reasonable amount of time, it'll remain infrequently used because it doesn't reward time spent, and each time it is attempted, it'll be like starting from zero again.
It isn't the same as learning a musical instrument, unless we're trying to learn the entire music shop's instruments or an entire orchestra's instruments at once, together. If you're learning a piano or a guitar, you're generally learning only that one instrument, not a whole bunch. With a guitar, it's hard, but each time it remains hard but your muscle memory progressively gains something. If you were to dart around from guitar to tuba to piano to saxophone to triangle, you wouldn't be proficient in all of them, only one or two, but it'd take longer.
Having said that, I've nothing against Modstep other than the meaningless hieroglyphics and literally starting from zero each time I use it which pretty much only lasts five minutes. If I were to confine myself to it for a day, I'm sure I could do most of the job of leveraging understanding, all by myself. I'd have to pick a day where there's no internet, no other apps, and nothing more comfortable to be doing instead as a displacement activity.
These are very good points! That helps me to understand better. I do think people would be a lot happier if they were more accepting of the idiosyncrasies of the platform and apps and focused more on the amazing things they can do.
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OK ... So once again, not directed at anyone. Just the pondering a of a guy with apparently too much time on his hands ...
I work in IT. All the time I see people coming completely unglued because of some small stumbling block, a few more mouse clicks, or having to type a few extra words, or something that is a little challenging to learn. The simplest difficulties can ruin their whole day. They can sometimes demand alterations that would take months of man hours to accomplish to save them 10 minutes a week. For some reason if it's on a computer it has to be brain-dead simple and work exactly the way they think it should. Some times I just have to sit them down and put it in perspective for them. Often I will start with asking them "Did you drive to work today?" Or "Did you eat breakfast this morning?" And lead them through just a little bit of the complexity that they master every day just to start their day. Some times it works, and I can talk them off the ledge. Sometimes not.
This making music on iOS shit is FUN! Perfect, no. Fun, hell yes! Complicated and idiosyncratic ? Sure. But not really more so than hundreds of things we do every single day. I look at it more like learning and playing a game like backgammon, poker, or angry birds.
OK, I'm done.
It is very, true that the ModStep developers could have made their app more accessible to so many more people by leveraging the consistencies and familiarity with basic interface behavior that Apple and Microsoft have built up over the years. But to anyone reading this thread and feeling like it is too hard to learn, it's not that difficult! With the latest release, which so far seems remarkably stable, it's totally worth the effort IMO.